The arrogance of government is now showing through with blinding glare. The ‘rollout’ of the Affordable Care Act is a defining failure of an administration that is staffed by academics and political hacks without the experience and common sense to achieve any reasonable measure of success. The President is immersed in a maelstrom of incompetence. The federal government now has virtual control over our lives from conception to resurrection and intervenes in our lives at every stage of life and level of behavior.
The healthcare plan, mistakenly called the Patient Protection & Affordable Care Act (PPACA), covers contraception devices. What some couples call the rhythm method might as well be called the schism method by the government. But what if the impulsive partners choose not to participate in the contraception freebies and instead act with a casual, imprudent attitude? What if the natural laws of biology create conception? The answer is simple, the feds are right there with funding for abortions, virtually unlimited.
Should the government fund attitudes of reckless behavior regarding the creation of life? The government’s answer is a resounding YES. Liberal rationalization transforms desultory behavior into a health issue. The First Lady seems preoccupied with overweight children and adults but the President and First Lady don’t seem to be bothered that 73% of Black children, 53% of Hispanic births and 29% of white deliveries are to unwed Mothers. If we are free to influence diet at the federal level, why shouldn’t we persuade behavior that is economically and culturally devastating for single Moms, absentee Dads, welfare spending, the justice system and the general economy?
Everyone qualifies for some form of assistance from the federal government. Keep in mind that what generous Uncle Sam hands-out was provided by you and other taxpayers. Money is earned by hard working people and turned over to governments that lure hordes of workers to create rules, regulations, standards, enforcement and penalties then present the residual funds to other qualifying taxpayers (and sometimes to unqualified recipients).
Here is a list of just some of the available programs operated by federal agencies through which flows trillions of dollars: Cell phones, Child Care and Support, Counseling, Disability Assistance, Disaster Relief, Education/Training (loans, grants, fellowships, scholarships), Employment Assistance, Energy Assistance, Environmental Sustainability, Flood Insurance, Food/Nutrition (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) SNAP, Women, Infants & Children (WIC), Child Programs, HIV/AIDS, Healthcare, Housing, Living Assistance, Loans and Loan Repayment, Medicare, Medicaid, Military Assistance, Social Security and Tax Assistance.
As you can see from this partial list, there is something for everyone. But can you also realize that swarms of people (millions?) can qualify for multiple programs that will allow them to flourish indefinitely? It should also be obvious that with this many programs, there are countless opportunities for deceit and fraud.
In his ‘State of the Union’ address last year, Mr. Obama introduced the notion of high quality government preschool programs that promote significant later educational gains. This concept is echoed by Austan Goolsbee, a liberal professor at The University of Chicago and former chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors in 2010-2011. Also grasping for the perceived benefits of ‘universal’ government sponsored and controlled Pre-K education is recently elected New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. Not all experts agree that government Pre-K is a good idea. Fred Jahncke, President of a management-consulting firm says government Pre-K ‘education’ is simply “free day care under the guise of education.” Jahncke goes on to say that the overwhelming cost of this vast program “may be a utopian mirage.”
Our federal government would spend an uncertain number of billions of dollars for the added control of parents and children from age four through college with careers in medicine, law and lifetime welfare. This is not the scope of opportunity and self-determination that we should be seeking. Our federal government should be an agency that guarantees equal opportunity, not equal outcomes. Government regulation and control must have limits to unleash the unlimited creativity of the people.
– Dick Baynton
